BWO to the Max

Swedish electronic pop group BWO (Bodies Without Organs), one of Sweden’s most popular bands over the past few years, traveled around the country performing at clubs in support of their latest CD. Touring with the band were lighting technician Marcus Persson of Kreativ Teknik and audio technician Patrik Bergman of Bergman Production.

Marcus served as lighting designer for the tour, and because clubs vary so much in size, stage set up, equipment and ceiling height, he created a flexible and easy-to-handle design, one suited to the varying conditions.

Maxxyz Compact™
“In order to easily adjust the show to the different equipment and stages, I wanted to bring along a Martin Maxxyz lighting console and Martin proposed that I try their brand new Maxxyz Compact™,” Marcus states.

“I was amazed how easy it was to adjust to the different conditions. And communication between Maxxyz and Maxedia was brilliant so that you always knew which effect was next.”

Maxxyz Compact is Martin’s newest lighting console, offering full Maxxyz functionality in a modular, mid-sized console. Consisting of four modules with the ability to control up to 32 DMX Universes, the complete stand-alone system is simple to set up, requiring only USB and power connections.

“An advantage of the Maxxyz Compact over the full size Maxxyz is that it’s easier to survey due to its smaller size,” Marcus comments. “For larger programming I would choose the Maxxyz but for smaller programming the Maxxyz Compact is excellent!”

By using a low resolution LED screen draped with voile fabric, an amazing backdrop was created for the show that could be combined in endless ways to suit every stage. Since the thin voile was draped around the LED screens, the fabric attracted colored light from the floor lights and made them appear as scenographic objects.

The lighting rig consisted of various types of LED fixtures, 1 x 1 meter LED frames (100 pixels/frame) and SGM Palco 5s as face lights from the floor. Additionally, a Clay Paky Astroaggi 36V 400W was used.

Maxedia PRO™
A Martin Maxedia PRO™ media server was used as a signal source for the image LED. The Maxedia, placed on stage in order to minimize the signal distance, was controlled by Ethernet DMX and an extra network cable to the lighting control to get the different video loops to pop up in the window as gobos.

“I put an Ether2DMX Router in the Maxedia rack on stage,” Marcus explains. “This resulted in me being able to receive DMX in XLR form where I was sitting and on stage. Apart from this we used wireless DMX from Wireless Solutions between the fixtures on the stage floor to minimize the amount of cables.”

Summer tour
This summer BWO will be touring around Sweden on its “Pandemonium Tour” to promote their new CD, this time playing mostly outdoor festivals. “In order to compete with the Swedish midnight sunset we’ll be adding 2-lights to the LED frames and also Martin LED Stagebar 54s as floor ‘par cans.’ And of course Maxxyz and Maxedia are coming with us,” Marcus concluded.

Touring equipment:
Martin Maxxyz Compact™
Martin Maxxyz Wing™
Martin Maxedia Pro™
Martin Ether2DMX Router
SGM Palco 5
Clay Paky Astroraggi 36V400W
Color Kinetics LED Video converter with LED PSU
Wireless Solutions Wireless DMX